Proverbs 2
1 My son, if you accept my sayings, And lay up my commands with you,
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and lay up my commandments with thee;
2 To cause your ear to attend to wisdom, You incline your heart to understanding,
So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
3 For if you call for intelligence, [And] give forth your voice for intelligence,
Yea, if thou cry after discernment, and lift up thy voice for understanding;
4 If you seek her as silver, And search for her as hid treasures,
If thou seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures;
5 Then you understand the fear of YHWH, And you find the knowledge of God.
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6 For YHWH gives wisdom, Knowledge and understanding from His mouth.
For the LORD giveth wisdom; out of his mouth [cometh] knowledge and understanding:
7 Even to lay up substance for the upright, A shield for those walking uprightly.
He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright, [he is] a shield to them that walk in integrity;
8 To keep the paths of judgment, And He preserves the way of His saints.
That he may guard the paths of judgment, and preserve the way of his saints.
9 Then you understand righteousness, And judgment, and uprightness—every good path.
Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment, and equity, [yea], every good path.
10 For wisdom comes into your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
For wisdom shall enter into thine heart, and knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;
11 Thoughtfulness watches over you, Understanding keeps you,
Discretion shall watch over thee, understanding shall keep thee:
12 To deliver you from an evil way, From any speaking contrary things,
To deliver thee from the way of evil, from the men that speak froward things;
13 Who are forsaking paths of uprightness, To walk in ways of darkness,
Who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14 Who are rejoicing to do evil, They delight in [the] contrariness of the wicked,
Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of evil;
15 Whose paths [are] crooked, Indeed, they are perverted in their ways.
Who are crooked in their ways, and perverse in their paths:
16 To deliver you from the strange woman, From the stranger who has made her sayings smooth,
To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
17 Who is forsaking the guide of her youth, And has forgotten the covenant of her God.
Which forsaketh the friend of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God:
18 For her house has inclined to death, And her paths to Rephaim.
For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead:
19 None going in to her return, Nor do they reach the paths of life.
None that go unto her return again, neither do they attain unto the paths of life:
20 That you go in the way of the good, And keep the paths of the righteous.
That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright inhabit the earth, And the perfect are left in it,
For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
22 And the wicked are cut off from the earth, And treacherous dealers plucked out of it!
But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and they that deal treacherously shall be rooted out of it.
